Expression of hesitation over second town guide, dropping old fake (6)
I believe the answer is:
ersatz
'fake' is the definition.
(ersatz means fake or imitation)
'expression of hesitation over second town guide dropping old' is the wordplay.
'expression of hesitation' becomes 'er'.
'over second town' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'guide' becomes 'A to Z' (reference work).
'dropping' suggests deleting specific letters.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'atoz' with 'o' taken away is 'atz'.
'er'+'s'+'atz'='ERSATZ'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ersatz that I've seen before include "Imitation or substitute, from German" , "Imitation, not the real thing" , "Cheap substitute or imitation" , "Mock" , "Made in imitation, from German" .)